Railroad safety device



g- 2, 6 A. DE GAETANO 3,264,471

RAILROAD SAFETY DEVICE Filed May 19, 1964 Fig.5

INVENTOR.

Gae fame United States Patent 3,264,471 RAILROAD SAFETY DEVICE Angelo De Gaetauo, Princeton, Mass. (R.F.D., Sterling Junction, Mass.) Filed May 19, 1964, Ser. No. 368,498 4 Claims. (Cl. 24'6-171) This invention relates to a railroad safety device and, more particularly, to an apparatus arranged to operate a train braking system in the event that a wheel leaves the in the operation of railroad equipment, experience shows that many accidents are caused by a wheel of one of the railroad cars leaving the rail. When this happens, the wheel runs across the ties and the particular car 1nvolved may be dragged along in this manner for many miles before the car arrives at a switch or other obstacle and a wreck occurs. This can particularly be true in the case of a long freight train where there IS nothing to indicate to the engineer in the forward locomotive that anything is wrong, since his car is dragged along with the other cars without any particularly great increase of power being required. Not only does a wreck take place when the derailed car reaches an obstacle, as has been described above, but the rails over which it passes during that time are damaged. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.

It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide a railroad safety device which will automatically set the train brakes when a car wheel leavesthe rail.

Another object of this invention is the provlsion of a railroad safety device which is simple and rugged in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and which 15 capable of a long life of useful service with a minimum of maintenance.

A further object of the present invention 1s the provision of a railroad safety device which can be located 111 such a way as to present no obstacle to objects lying on the railroad ties between the rails and which is not readily rendered operative by accidental means.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide a railroad safety device capable of setting a railroad braking system which can be installed on existing equipment.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a railroad safety device which, in the event of railroad wheel derailment, sets the brakes and maintains them set even though the original operating force is no longer present.

With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides 1n the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended thereto.

The character of the invention, however, may be best understood by reference to one of its structural forms as illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a transverse sectional view of a railroad car showing a railroad safety device embodying the principles of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a side view of the car,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the device as it is seen looking along the rail,

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of the device taken on the line IV--IV of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of the device taken on the line VV of FIG. 3.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, which best show the general features of the invention, the railroad safety device, indicated generally by the reference numeral 10, is shown in use with a railroad car 11 having a truck 12. The truck is provided with the usual bolster 13 on which are mounted wheels 14 operative on conventional rails 15. Associated with the car 11 is a horizontal pipe 16 which extends the entire length of the train and forms part of the well-known Westinghouse air brake system. This system is arranged in such a manner that any breakage or release of air from any part of the system causes the brakes for the entire train to "be made operative to stop the train. Extending downwardly from the pipe 16 is a branch 17 connected through a valve 18 which is normally open to one end of a flexible conduit 19. The other end of this conduit is connected to a T-fitting 21 from which extend laterally two conduits 22 and 23.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, it can be seen that a supporting member 24 is connected to the truck 12 and is provided on its inner side with two laterally-extending plates 25 and 26, which are parallel to one another and across which extends a pivot pin 27. Pivoted at its upper end on this pin 27 is an actuating finger 28 which is elongated and which extends downwardly from the pivot pin and provided at its lower end with a curved cam surface 29. Extending from the support 24 somewhat below the plates 25 and 26 is a retaining member 31 having a slot 32 which opens from the side which faces inwardly of the car. Across the slot and close to the finger 28 is a shear bolt 33 which is small enough to be readily broken by extreme pressure of the finger 28 against it, but strong enough to prevent this from happening accidentally.

At the upper end of the finger 28 but below the pivot pin 27 is a laterally-extending bellcrank 34 to which is pivotally attached the bifurcated lower end of a rod 35. This rod 35 extends vertically upwardly and is attached to the outer end of a handle 36 of a valve 37 which is fastened to the truck and which is connected to the conduit 23. Mounted on the truck concentrically of the rod 35 is a housing 38 in which is slidably carried a plate or piston 39 which is Welded or otherwise fastened to the upper portion of the rod 35. A coil spring 41 is carried within the housing 38 and extends between its bottom portion and the underside of the piston 39, thus tending to maintain the rod 35 in an upwardly biased condition.

As is evident in FIG. 3, the cam surface 29 of the actuating finger 28 is a concave curved surface facing toward a similar concave surface of the rail 15.

The operation of the invention will now be readily understood in view of the above description. In normal operation, the wheels 14 ride along the upper curved surfaces of the rails 15 and the railroad car glides smoothly on its way. On occasion, however, for various reasons, such as an encounter with debris on the rail, a wheel 14 may leave the rail so that it rides along on the upper surface of the ties and of the roadbed which support the rails. The sharp, flanged edge of the wheel, of course, ruins the ties by cutting them end the wheel itself is subjected to various kinds of damage. Eventually, however, the derailed wheel strikes a frog switch or some other obstacle and this results in the wrecking of the entire train. The situation wherein the wheel is derailed and rides along the ties, however, may exist for many miles without being discovered by the engineer. In the present case, however, when a wheel 14 leaves the rail, the operating finger 28 moves laterally toward the rail until the cam surface 29 strikes the side of the rail and the lower end of the finger 28 is moved laterally inwardly of the rail. This causes the finger 28 to pivot about the pin 27 at its upper end, so that its middle portion eventually strikes the shear bolt 33. Because of the extreme force of the movement of the finger 28 laterally brought about by the rail 15 (due to the entire weight of the railroad car being brought to bear), the bolt 33 is quickly sheared so that the finger 28 continues its lateral pivotal course. In doing so, the movement of the finger 28 in a clockwise direction, as observed in FIG. 3, causes a similar movement of the bellcrank 34, so that the rod 35 is moved upwardly.

Patented August 2, 1966 This causes a counterclockwiserotation of the handle 36 and an opening of the valve37. -The-release of -the air from the pneumatic braking system by the, opening of the end of the conduit '23 causes the brakes on all of the cars of the train to become operative in the conventional manner. 7 It should be observed that the derailing of the car may causethe wheel quickly tomove far enough toward the rail so that contact no longer takes place between the rail 15 and; the actuating finger 28; this meansthat the finger may tend to return to the normal position shownin FIG. 3.- However, it will -be realized that this finger is under constant spring bias by the coil spring 41, so that'it remains in. a position to maintain the valve 37 open. The braking system, therefore, remains operative and, eventually, the train is brought to a stop. This spring bias is, of course, normally resisted bythe shear bolt 33. The safety device 10 is rugged in construction and can be manufactured ivery readily and, as is evident from the description, does not require any particular maintenance and yet cannot be rendered inoperative by accumulation of dustand dirt; The device can be inserted into the present equipment with a minimum-0f disruption of that equipment.

It is obvious that minor change s may, be made in;the form and construction of the invention Without departing from the material spirit thereof. It is not, however,

desired to confine the invention to the exact form;herein shown and described, but it is desired to include: all such as properly come within the scope claimed.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new and desired to secure byLetters Patentis: 1. A safety device for a railroadcar, comprising 7 (a) a valve adapted to be connected into an automatic braking system,

(b) an actuating finger mounted for pivotal movement about a generally horizontal axis withits free end formed with a cam surface located above the plane of the top surface of the rail, and

in the .event the car leaves the rail the cam surface of the fingerywill striketherail and move the finger laterally of theziwheel to operatefthe valve to. operate the braking. system, the finger'residingin a slotted member mounted on the railroad car and normally retained in the slot by a shearbolt.

2. A safety'device for a railroad .car, comprising (a) a valve ad'apted to be connected into an automatic braking system, (b) an actuating finger mounted for pivotal'movement about a generally horizontal axis with its free end formed withia cam surface-located above they plane of the top surface of the rail, and

(c) means connecting. the finger to the valve, so that in the event that the railroad car leaves the rail the cam surface of; the .finger; will strike ,the rail and finger isconnected to the valve by a rod, wherein the 1 rod iextends through a housing. containing the spring, wherein theispring is a coil spring that surrounds the rod, and-wherein a piston is fastened to the rod to receive the spring forces References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS (0) means connecting the finger to the valve, so that 2,506,709 5/1950' Donnclly 246171 EUGENE G. BOTZ,'Prz"mary Examiner. 

1. A SAFETY DEVICE FOR A RAILROAD CAR, COMPRISING (A) A VALVE ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTED INTO AN AUTOMATIC BRAKING SYSTEM, (B) AN ACTUATING FINGER MOUNTED FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT ABOUT A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL AXIS WITH ITS FREE END FORMED WITH A CAM SURFACE LOCATED ABOVE THE PLANE OF THE TOP SURFACE OF THE RAIL, AND (C) MEANS CONNECTING THE FINGER OF THE VALVE, SO THAT IN THE EVENT THE CAR LEAVES THE RAIL THE CAM SURFACE OF THE FINGER WILL STRIKE THE RAIL AND MOVE THE FINGER LATERALLY OF THE WHEEL TO OPERATE THE VALVE TO OPERATE THE BREAKING SYSTEM, THE FINGER RESIDING IN A SLOTTED MEMBER MOUNTED ON THE RAILROAD CAR AND NORMALLY RETAINED IN THE SLOT BY A SHEAR BOLT. 